Weekly College Awards

The weekly college awards are a day late this time around, but it’s a day that many of us have off of work or school. So let’s get right to it!

Men

Athlete of the Week: Deon Lendore, Texas A&M
Lendore led his Aggies to victory in the big tri-meet with Arkansas and LSU by winning the 400 meters in a world-leading time of 45.91, then turned around and anchored the winning 4×400 relay with a 45.9 split.

Honorable mention goes to Anthony Rotich of UTEP, who ran yearly collegiate list leaders in both the mile and 3000 meters at New Mexico’s Cherry and Silver Invitational.

Team of the Week: Texas A&M
Any team that handily beats Arkansas and LSU is an easy choice for this award. Honorable mention goes to Kansas State, who put up big marks at their own Wildcat Invitational quadrangular in the 200, high jump, pole vault and long jump.

Team Player: Jeff Mohl, Montana State
Mohl had a hand in 14 points in the Bobcats’ win over rivals Montana and Idaho State, scoring second in the high jump (2.00m), pole vault (4.90m), and long jump (6.97m), and anchoring the winning 4×400 relay.

Down to the wire: Indiana State has now lost all eighteen battles with Purdue for the Gene Edmonds Cup, awarded at their annual dual meet based on combined men’s and women’s score. The Sycamores were down two points going into the meet-ending men’s 4×400 relay, and salvaging a tie was possible, but they came up just short.

Women

Athlete of the Week: Tia Brooks, Oklahoma
Brooks won the shot put at the Sooners’ J.D. Martin Invitational duals with a distance of 18.76 meters (61′ 6.75″), just 5 cm away from being one of the top ten indoor distances in collegiate history. The only other athletes who have thrown farther indoors are Terri Steer (SMU), Laura Gerraughty (North Carolina), and of course Brooks herself.

Honorable mention goes to Central Florida’s Octavious Freeman. In a 60 meter showdown with #1-ranked Dezerea Bryant (Clemson) at the Auburn Indoor Invitational, Freeman won by a massive 0.11 seconds in 7.19, which ties Bryant for #1 on the collegiate list.

Team of the Week: LSU
As above with the men, the team that came out on top in the big LSU-Arkansas-Texas A&M tri-meet was guaranteed the top spot. Also, head coach Dennis Shaver gave me a shout-out in a post-meet interview (maybe more of a call-out), just past two minutes in.

Team Player: Kalyn Sheehan, Rhode Island
Sheehan led her team to an easy victory at its own Sorlien Invitational, winning the 60m hurdles (8.72), taking second in both the 200 meters (25.84) and 500 meters (1:18.08), a fourth in the long jump (5.33 meters) and an eleventh in the shot put (9.97 meters).

Chris Berman, have you thought of: Amanda Winslow “Arizona, such a fine sight to see”

Small college, big impact: Danielle Williams, running for Division II Johnson C. Smith, blazed a 8.20 in the 60m hurdles on Saturday at the brand-new JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, NC. The next day she ran 7.37 in the 60 meters at the same facility. The first mark puts her fifth among all collegians (regardless of division), and the second puts her tenth.